College Football Playoff officials continue to have no inclination to expand the event beyond four teams, the CFP’s executive director said Wednesday at SEC Media Days.
“There is no talk about expansion among the university presidents and the conference commissioners who sit on our boards,” Bill Hancock said at the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta. “The CFP works. It works well.”
He said a four-team field “keeps the focus on … the most meaningful and compelling regular season in all of sports” and “lets us keep the bowl experience for thousands of student-athletes.”
The playoff started four seasons ago, replacing the controversial BCS system for choosing college football’s national championship.
“One survey of fans shows that (the playoff) has an 80 percent positive approval rating,” Hancock said. “I doubt anything else in America has an 80 percent approval rating. Maybe ice cream?”
The College Football Playoff held its national championship game at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium last season. A playoff semifinal game was held in Atlanta’s Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl in the 2016 season. The Peach Bowl next will host a playoff semifinal in the 2019 season.
The CFP last week extended the Peach Bowl’s place in the semifinal rotation, meaning semis also will be played here in 2022 and 2025.
“Atlanta has all the infrastructure and people to make the engine purr,” Hancock said in announcing the extension of the Peach Bowl deal.
This season’s national championship game will be played at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.
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